/Film Reader Matt B dropped me an e-mail giving a nice rundown of director James Cameron‘s appearance at Ohio State. He talked about Avatar 2, post 3D conversion, Clash of the Titans, his Titanic suicide letter, the science of Avatar, and Jamie Lee Curtis‘ unexpected contribution to the pole dancing scene in True Lies. Read the full report after the jump. Here is the report from /Film reader Matt B:

Hey Peter,

I know you’re a busy guy, so I’ll try to keep this brief. James Cameron made a stop at my university, Ohio State. I also know I have no credentials, so for all you know I could be making this all up. But for exhaustive proof I’ve attached a picture of my ticket, and a grainy phone picture from the event. And here’s the facebook event, with about 900 attendees who could back-up what I’ve said.

Some interesting things he said (paraphrased) that I’ve never read or heard about before:

* When asked about transferring themes from franchise to franchise or to sequels he got on the subject of Avatar 2 and mentioned how we can’t expect it for at least 3 1/2 years. Is this the first he’s discussed a timeframe for Avatar 2? * He answered my question: “What is your opinion on post-production 3D conversion, and have you seen Clash of the Titans?” His response was something to the effect of: “Don’t get me started on that! I sort of have to straddle the fence on this one, since I’m doing it myself. We’re doing a Titanic 3D conversion, but we’re doing it right, we’re taking the time to make sure it looks good. It’s a painstaking process, people work in front of computers for months tracing each image, each piece of hair, rotoscoping everything so they can be pulled out and made into the third dimension. I don’t support the rushed conversion, and really only classic movies should be converted, like Titanic, Indiana Jones, or Jurassic Park, really any popular classic you can think of. New 3D movies should never be made in that way. And I think eventually the industry will catch on and adapt. But they are perhaps hurting the market by muddying the public’s opinion on 3D.” He talks about 3D tvs and how they’re all coming out in huge quantities soon and will push the medium in the right direction. He goes on for about 5 minutes total, and concludes with, “As far as Clash of the Titans, I’ve been on the road a lot so I haven’t had a chance to see it, but from what I’ve been told it doesn’t look too great. You shouldn’t have asked that, see what you made me do?!” * During filming of Titanic he said he taped a razor on the side of a camera and put a note next to it reading, “Use if movie sucks.” * When asked about how the “virtual reality, MRI thingy” works in Avatar he responded with “The science-fiction standard of course, PFM, ‘Pure fucking magic.'” * He told us that during the pole dance scene in True Lies Jamie Lee planned falling off (not in the script) without Arnold’s knowledge. So when he gets up to help her he thought she really needed help, then realized he was ruining the scene and sat down. And that’s the scene that they used because it perfectly fits the character.